Patience

Patience is a key ingredient to distance training. We have a long season and lots to learn. There will be ups, downs and (speed) bumps along the way. We have to keep moving, keep smiling and never give up.

Our mascot is a turtle. Perki reminds us that slow and steady wins.

Slow and steady is very important for our Saturday miles. Saturday's long miles are where we build endurance. We teach our legs, heart, lungs and brain to withstand the miles we have planned. It's a slow progression. It won't happen overnight. Each week we add a little more (with some drop back weeks for extra recovery) and push ourselves just a little bit more.


It's important that our pace on these long runs be slow and easy. There are pace markers that we can use but the easiest measure is perceived effort. We should be running or walking slow enough to carry on a conversation with the people around us. If alone, test yourself by reciting a poem or the Pledge of Allegiance or something like that to make sure you are not pushing too hard. If you are gasping for breath of finding it diffcult to talk you are pushing too hard.

If we push too hard we risk over extending muscles, possibly causing injury and that sets us back a few days or weeks. We need to have patience as these muscles get stronger and more capable to endure the distances planned. If we push too hard we will need extra recovery time. Extra recovery time means we will not be ready to do the weekday workouts. Weekday workouts are where we introduce speed and hills. These are the workouts that will make us faster. If still recovering from Saturday we will not be able to effectively complete the speed and hill workouts. It can be vicious cycle. Try not to get caught up in it.

So patience and long slow easy Saturday miles. You can do it.